


Sung from the Heart

by Welfycat



Series: Stargate High School [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-26
Updated: 2010-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-14 03:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welfycat/pseuds/Welfycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Picking the play, Daniel Jackson discovered, wasn't even half of the battle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sung from the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written for High School Bingo; Prompt: Clubs and Extracurricular

Daniel Jackson, teacher of all three of the foreign languages that were taught at Stargate High School, was less than enthused to be sacrificing his time after school to help run the school musical. But with the premature death of his ‘Language is Fun’ club to which no one had shown up despite offers of extra credit and Richard Woolsey, the choir director, out with two broken legs after a car accident, Daniel didn’t feel he had a much of a choice when George Hammond handed him a stack of papers and told him to meet his co-director in the auditorium on Thursday after classes let out.

When he opened the doors and walked down the aisle he found himself face to face with Vala Mal Doran, the art teacher and director of the drama club. “You’re my co-director?” he asked.

Vala grinned, her eyes bright and wide. “No.”

“No?” Daniel frowned, his brow wrinkling.

“No,” Vala agreed, sitting back down at the folding table that had been set up behind the first section of chairs. “You are my co-director.”

Daniel sighed with as much aggravation as he could put into it and placed his briefcase on the table. “I suppose you have some idea of what play you want to do?”

Vala grinned again as Daniel sat down. “As a matter of fact, I have several ideas.”

“Let’s hear them and get this over with,” Daniel took off his glasses and closed his eyes, wondering if the pounding in his temples was a sign that he was going to have a stroke or an aneurysm.

“I’ve compiled a list, so I’ll read it off to you and you can tell me what you think,” Vala paused but when it became clear that Daniel wasn’t going to respond she dug her crumpled list out of her oversized bag and smoothed it out on the table. “Rent.”

Daniel sighed. “We’re not putting on Rent. Hammond would have a coronary.”

“La Cage aux Folles,” Vala suggested.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that,” Daniel said without hesitation.

Vala just continued to the next item on her list. “Chicago!”

“We’re not putting on a show about people killing their lovers and getting away with it,” Daniel tipped his head back before opening his eyes. “Look, none of your suggestions are going to work, so why don’t you just get rid of your list and we’ll come up with something a little more suitable. What about Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”

“What about it?” Vala asked.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Why don’t we put it on for the school play? There are a lot of parts and the rolls are fairly evenly balanced.”

Vala sighed. “But that’s so rural and boring.”

“Alright, Singing in the Rain, that’s not rural,” Daniel frowned, trying to remember what plays they had done in his high school, not that he’d paid them any attention at the time.

“It’s still boring and the kids can’t relate to that. And the lyrics are rather uninspired,” Vala commented, resting one of her fingers on her lips while she pulled her feet up onto her chair.

Daniel grimaced. “Fine. How about The Scarlet Pimpernel?”

Vala stared. “You seriously think the kids could pull off The Scarlet Pimpernel?”

“Probably about as well as they could “Chicago,” Daniel pointed out.

“Saturday Night Fever,” Vala said with a nod.

Daniel started to protest but paused as an idea slowly formed. “I’ve got it. It’s poppy, it’s flashy, and it’s not too flamboyant for high school kids.”

“I’m listening.” Vala’s raised eyebrows conveyed her disbelief.

“Grease.” Daniel waited for the inevitable objections.

Vala started to nod. “I like it. It’s not too drab, the kids will like it, and the music is fun.”

Daniel grabbed the papers from his briefcase and started writing down what they would need as far as a production and ordering scripts. “When do we want to hold auditions?” he asked absently as he wrote.

“Two weeks?” Vala suggested. “That will be enough time for us to receive play packets and for the kids to put together audition pieces?”

Daniel nodded. “I’ll reserve the auditorium.” For the first time since Hammond had sprung this one him he felt that it might not turn out so bad.

*****

Daniel sat in his chair, rubbing firmly where his head was throbbing. Whoever had decided that high school students should put on a musical production had obviously not been thinking clearly and deserved whatever torture that he could devise. Personally, he was thinking having a recording of auditions that they were forced to listen to on loop for twenty four hours a day for at least a week, maybe longer, would be a suitable punishment.

Vala was also slumped in her seat, her pigtails drooping as she looked at the signup sheet that was still four pages long.

“Next!” Daniel shouted, half-hoping the next student would hurry up so that it would be over with faster and half-hoping they would take their time just so he could have a moments reprieve.

Rodney McKay, a student that Daniel recognized from his junior French class, strode out onto the stage, his head held high.

“Alright, Rodney. What will you be singing for us?” Daniel asked, making a note on his clipboard that at least McKay didn’t have stage fright like Miko Kusanagi, who had ran off the stage crying before she could even start her song.

Rodney cleared his throat. “First of all, I would like to make a formal protest over the selection of this years school musical. Grease is a childish production with no substance whatsoever and the music is pure pop without any depth or meaning. If we’re going to pursue a worthwhile production-“

“Either sing your song, Rodney, or get off the stage,” Daniel called, already at the limits of his endurance.

Rodney sighed. “I am Rodney McKay and I will be singing the titular song from Were The World Mine.”

Vala nodded her approval while Daniel jotted down notes. Surprisingly, Rodney was not a bad singer and Daniel grudgingly wrote Rodney down on the very short list of people that would probably make the cast list.

“Thank you, Rodney. That was lovely,” Vala said after Rodney had finished.

Rodney gave a short bow and left the stage.

“See, that wasn’t so bad.” Vala looked a little perkier.

Daniel just nodded mutely as the next student got up on stage.

Three earsplitting auditions later, two girls tumbled up onto the stage, whispering in each others ears and giggling the entire while.

“Can we help you?” Vala asked, sounding a little bemused.

“We’re here to audition and we’re singing a duet. I’m Anne Teldy,” one of the girls said. “And this is Alicia Vega. We signed up together.”

Daniel scanned through the list and sure enough found their names squeezed into a box. “What are you singing?”

“For Good, from Wicked,” Alicia said, grinning at Anne.

Vala smiled enthusiastically and the girls started to sing.

Daniel was once again surprised at the fairly descent rendition of the song, although they couldn’t quite manage the range that Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel had. He jotted their names down on the supporting cast list, grateful that there were some students in the school who could manage to carry a tune.

“Thank you,” Daniel called as the girls dashed away, still giggling.

A few auditions later, a young freshmen stumbled up on stage, nervously clutching his audition sheet. Daniel braced himself for another song that he could barely hear because the student was so quiet.

“Name, please?” Vala called after exchanging a meaningful glance with Daniel. Sitting through the process of auditions had seemed to prove a bonding experience for the pair of them, now united in suffering.

“Chuck Notchet,” the boy said softly.

“And what will you be singing?” Daniel asked, hoping that it wasn’t If I Were A Rich Man, yet again.

“Mister Cellophane,” Chuck said, just as softly.

Finding the song oddly fitting, and one he hadn’t heard yet that day, Daniel nodded in approval and Chuck began to sing.

“I told you that Chicago would have been okay,” Vala leaned in and whispered.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “This is the most non-objectional song in the entire show,” he whispered back.

Chuck finished singing and dashed off the stage before Daniel had a chance to say anything. Even though Chuck had started quiet and more than a little tremulous, the performance had improved over the course of the song and he had a good voice. Daniel thought he could probably manage a minor role, after a lot of preparation.

“Are we almost there yet?” Vala asked five auditions later, from where she was laying face down on the table, her thick hair spread out messily.

Daniel checked the list. “One more today, then we have a full docket tomorrow.”

“Yay,” Vala mumbled.

Daniel recognized the student who cheerfully bounded up the steps to the stage, her hair swinging behind her. It was Katie Brown, from his sophomore Latin class.

“What’s your song, Katie?” Daniel asked, at least a little hopeful that this could turn out somewhat well.

Katie smiled pleasantly. “I’ll be singing Somewhere That’s Green from Little Shop of Horrors.”

Daniel nodded, not really surprised. He knew that Katie spent a lot of her time out in the school greenhouse and was often approaching him with plant names to ask about their root words in Greek and Latin.

When Katie had finished, her name on Daniel’s cast list, Daniel flipped shut his briefcase and glanced over to where Vala was sprawled in her chair. “Go get some sleep. Just one more day of auditions and then we can post the cast list and start rehearsal. All uphill from there,” he pointed out.

Vala nodded weakly. “I need some coffee.”

Daniel nodded in fervent agreement.

*****

The first audition of the day set the tone, and Daniel smiled a little as Laura Cadman danced and sung her way through Good Morning Baltimore. The dancing was more impressive than her vocals but it was more than enough to earn her a spot on the cast sheet.

A few auditions later, a sophomore got up on stage with a big, goofy grin on his face.

“What will you be singing, Carson?” Vala asked, recognizing the boy from her sculpting class.

“Any Dream Will Do,” Carson said with a nervous smile.

He sung the song well enough, though not quite with the right feeling behind it, that Daniel marked him in the cast column without a second thought.

The following six auditions left Daniel tugging at his hair, wondering what exactly he could do to pay Hammond back for giving him this pointless assignment. Next year he was going to teach separate sections of Greek and Latin, even if he only had four students in each class, he decided. After sitting through this, he deserved to be able to teach whatever he wanted.

“My name is Teyla and I will be singing the title song from Whistle Down the Wind,” the small girl said, standing at ease in the center of the stage.

“Go ahead, Teyla,” Daniel said.

Daniel was more than a little taken aback by the power of the voice coming from such a small frame, impressed at the amount of vocal control Teyla had for someone still in high school.

“Very nice,” Vala said when Teyla had finished.

Teyla inclined her head with a serene smile. “Thank you for your time.”

Daniel and Vala exchanged glances as Teyla left the room.

“I think we have our Sandy,” Vala said as Daniel nodded in agreement.

The rest of the afternoon crawled by slowly, Vala entertaining herself with spinning her pen on the table as student after student sung with varying degrees of success.

Daniel was just taking more headache management medication when a lanky junior strolled in and walked up onto the stage.

“Peter Grodin. I’ll be singing Being Alive from Company,” he said, smiling brightly.

Daniel checked his list and was incredibly grateful when he saw that Peter’s name was the last one on the list. He was just leaning back in his chair when Peter started, but froze, minutely aware of Vala sitting up suddenly.

Being Alive was a song that you had to mean in order for it to work at all, it was a strong melody, but it was Sondheim, which came with the prerequisite of some level of maturity both vocally and emotionally. For the first time since the audition process started, Daniel allowed himself to just listen to the music and let it overwhelm him; the beauty and the pain and the joy of it all.

Peter finished and Daniel started clapping, somehow not surprised to find Vala clapping along side him.

“That was beautiful,” Daniel said, meaning it.

Peter ducked his head a little bit. “Thank you.” He scampered off the stage, leaving Daniel and Vala alone.

“I think this is going to turn out okay,” Daniel said, looking down at the cast list that he’d cobbled together, his mind still preoccupied in song.

Vala nodded. “It will be lovely.”

And Daniel found that he couldn’t disagree.


End file.
